That’s the big question for the Colorado Eagles after the departure of Chad Costello and Jack Combs to the AHL.

The pair was the top two scorers in the ECHL, so filling their shoes is always going to need to be done by committee, rather than one or two people.

It might need to be a different person every night. On Wednesday it was veteran Kevin Ulanski who stepped up to give the Eagles just enough to beat Bakersfield 3-2.

The Condors (7-18-1-2, 17 points) scored first on a deflected shot from the point on a power play.

But less than a minute later Ulanski responded with a nice move in front of the net to get Bakersfield goalie Brian Stewart out of position and slid the puck under him for a power play goal.

Joey Sides gave Colorado (14-11-1-2, 31 points) a 2-1 lead when he fired in a rebound of a Jason Beatty shot for another power play goal.

Then Ulanski struck again early in the third. His second of the night, and fourth of the season, was a pure goal-scorers goal. He deked around a defender and fired the puck past Stewart’s blocker and inside the post for a 3-1 lead.

“Tonight was a good team effort,” Ulanski said. “We seemed to get a lot of pressure early and shots on net. That’s where our success comes from when we’re shooting the puck it helps break the other team down.”

The Eagles killed three power plays in the third period to hold onto the win.

“They go 1-7 (on the power play), we go 2-5. That’s it in a nutshell right there,” said Eagles assistant coach Greg Pankewicz, speaking for coach Chris Stewart who was unavailable for comment after the game. “Specialty teams are huge, it doesn’t matter if it’s the first game or the last game of the season.”

Yet again Colorado was light on bodies. The Eagles had only five forwards and eight defenseman.

In the third they played a conservative game that keyed on getting the puck out of the zone and away from danger. A key faceoff win by Trent Daavettila with seven seconds left and six skaters on the ice for Bakersfield sealed the win for Colorado.

“We preach it all season long. Just make low risk plays, if you have a chance to get it out you just do it,” Pankewicz said. “You simplify the game when you’re short benched.”

Eagles sign Haddon

With a severly depleted roster the Eagles signed veteran Steve Haddon on Wednesday. The forward has played in 329 professional games, all with Colorado. He had 32 points in 41 games in the ECHL last season with the Eagles. Haddon played Wednesday night, recording one shot and zero points.